When this picture was taken, Keldside lead smelt mill was being used as a farm building. N.B. Narrative and pictures are as of the times when the pictures were originally added (mostly 1997 to 2004). In 2021, things may look different; conditions, tracks and rights of way may have changed. Click on the Home button for more explanation. How to get there. Keldside lead smelter (smelt mill) is only a few yards from the B6270 road. Follow the B6270 which is the main road through Swaledale from Keld. After about 1 mile, you will see the former smelt mill and its peat store on the left. The mill is clearly distinguished by its pair of stone arched windows which may have helped this particular wall to withstand the ravages of time. Clearly, the rotting and failure of wooden lintels can accelerate the collapse of walls. Keldside Smelt Mill was probably the only one of the many old smelt mill buidings in the Dales which still had a real use at the turn of the millenium. For much of the building's length, only its front wall still exists. The east end is roofed with slate and is used as an agricultural building. The remainder has been made also into an agricultural building also, but by use of corrugated metal sheeting erected at the rear. Three internal flues join into one external flue behind the smelter. The single flue carried the fumes from the smelter up Keld Side to a square chimney, which is now about 10 feet high. We understand that there was once a water wheel which worked the bellows. There is no longer any lead industry water wheel left at any of the Dales' smelt mills. At Keldside, there is not even any obvious trace of the water course and the tail race which once carried the spent water to the Swale below. By climbing Keld Side, the hill behind (i.e. to the South of) Keldside Mill, we found the remains of the chimney. An Ah But! statement: The mill probably started up about 1839, making it one of the latecomers. The mines in the vicinity had been trying to access "wet" levels where the ore was below the level of the nearby Swale. The trials had shown that the lower levels of the veins contained good ore deposits, but water could not be controlled. According to Arthur Raistrick, steam pumps once promised success where water wheel driven pumps had not been able to cope. Apparently though, water remained a problem. Possibly, the building of the mill had been premature and it did not become a great lead producer. We understand that in attempt to dry the lower strata in the area, a start was made at Keld, to get direct drainage through a planned mile long tunnel. The outlet at Keld would be much lower down the valley than many of the wet' mines. The outlet at Keld would have low enough to drain the mines without pumping. Apparently, work on the tunnel was abandoned as difficulties made it far more expensive than had been anticipated. The smelter did find work as there were still a few 'dry' levels in the vicinty, such as those in the Sir George Mines. When the dry levels were exhausted, the lower 'wet' levels remained unexploited and the Keldside Mill closed. The peat store and smelt mill seen from the "rear”. John looking uphill from the back of the John looking uphill from the back of the smelt mill. The River Swale can just be seen beyond the road. The smelt mill's tail race met the Swale at a particularly pretty place, near Wain Wath Force shown below when the Swale was 'quiet'. Cottersby Scar is in the background. To complete this webpage, a picture by Barry Jones taken when the falls were in full spate. Link to the page on the Marrick Smelt Mill >>>

Keldside lead smelt mill in Swaledale.